Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour)

We would not be having this debate among ourselves if the country was not in recession. Given the subject matter of this debate, the impression I got from listening to the debate earlier - in fairness, not including the contributions of those here present - was of Members working up a sweat as if all the national assets were to be sold off tomorrow in a €1 shop or some such nonsense. Very limited assets are being sold off. Let us be truthful and accurate in the debate.

This country is in a bad place and in, to use Charles Dickens' title, Hard Times. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding himself or herself. It is constantly repeated here, as it was this morning, the number of people, predominantly young people, leaving this country, the number of people on the dole etc. Quite correctly, that should be repeated because that is the reality, and that is why this debate is taking place. If such sales take place, part of the proceeds will be used for job creation, and why not? I support that.

I listened to some Members earlier this morning working up a sweat on the issue of the sale of State assets. These are the same Members who came in here and took up most of the time on Tuesday talking about bogs and who arrived back yesterday to talk about bogs. When thousands were standing on the road in the freezing cold at the RDS on Saturday, and again on Sunday, there was not a word from these Members who were talking about bogs. Did they pick up the Irish Examiner, page 7? With thousands of people in a car park in Cork, if we went down and canvassed them and asked, "By the way, how do you feel about selling off a limited amount of the national assets", do they think these people would say "No"? They would, my arse. They would welcome any initiative by the Government. This is the only initiative in this regard. I have not heard any proposal from that side of the House other than, of course, the bog contribution from the highly Technical Group, who know everything and always want Members to turn up for debates but are never here when the real debate is taking place. Of course, they are qualified in bogs. I can just see them all on Mastermind on the subject of bogs.

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